I enjoying using mine, very fool proof. However, I didn't purchase mine at full retail. I purchased a used OTS (like 3 cooks on it) for $75 and it came with a ton of accessories: grill grates, chimney, various wood chips, smokenator, hinged grate, thermo added to lid, several firewires, etc.
Now I also haven't tried the snake method in my kettle; therefore I may be the one missing out. My assumption is, based on previous comments, the snake works well and negates the need for a smokenator.
The one thing I dislike about the smokenator is the sorry water pan, it's too small. I've heard there are solutions for that though.